British Prime Minister Theresa May has raised her country’s terrorist threat level to critical, meaning that another attack may be imminent. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the horrendous bombing in Manchester.
In yesterday’s Daily Article, I stated that the attacker “does not represent Islam” and that “radicalized Muslims are a small minority of the larger Muslim world.” I noted that “they have killed many more Muslims than non-Muslims” and quoted a Muslim authority who condemned the attack in Manchester.
Some readers questioned my position, claiming that Islam is a religion of violence and that attacks such as the atrocity in England express its ideology. This is a common and urgent question. There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world; clearly, we need to know if each of them represents a threat to the rest of us.
I have been studying Islam since serving as a missionary to the Muslim world while in college. I have written a book and numerous articles on radical Islam and taught world religions with four seminaries.
In my experience, the relationship between violence and Islam is a complicated one that cannot be explained fully in an essay as brief as this Daily Article. I’ve therefore written a paper on this issue titled Islam: A Religion of Violence or Peace? which you can read here. I’ll summarize my view briefly but hope you’ll refer to my longer essay for a fuller explanation.
Continue reading Denison Forum – Did the Manchester attacker represent Islam?
